Starting them up & testing them out!

This past Saturday, it was time to get two machines started and tested. First, our Fairmont tie extractor was given some attention to its hydraulic system so it was time to start it up and try it out. Of course, this was a little harder than it seemed since the machine had not been starting in some time AND someone "borrowed" the starter for another engine at the museum. Since the motor can be rope started, one of our volunteers lent his pulling ability to starting the engine. After many tries, success was had and the unit was successfully tested.

Museum volunteer John Redden sets to attempt to pull start our tie extractor. While success was not achieved on the first pull, the engine was successfully started several pulls later.

With its batteries in place and hooked up and all the engine's systems checked out, it was time to let Eastman Kodak #6 stretch it legs for the first time in a few months. Locomotive EK 6 prepares to depart from Track #4 after having new batteries installed and all systems checked out.

EK#6 passes RG&E #1941 which is receiving both cosmetic and mechanical attention in the Industry yard. We hope to have pics of its test runs very soon.

We find Rochester Chapter NRHS President Jeremy Tuke at the throttle. This was a little more fun job then his lawn mowing detail of the previous weekend.

Digging, painting, mowing, and cleaning

This Saturday saw work on several projects around the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum. With the new batteries in place, GE 80-tonner EK 6 received some routine maintenance including a checkout and cleaning of the electrical gear including the main generator on the working prime mover. The unit also started to get some more cosmetic attention. Elsewhere, museum volunteers were kept busy digging ditches, mowing grass, and helping keep our museum railroad in top operating condition through our 2004 season.

Museum volunteer, Ryan Kane, uses an angle grinder with a wire brush to clean up areas of rust on the grab irons of EK#6 prior to priming by museum volunteer, Jessica Stallone.

While Ryan continues his work, we can see the three recently repainted bumpers on Tracks 3, 4 and 5 in the museum's Industry yard.

Drainage is always something we need to continually work on due to our multi-level property. Another group of volunteers was working on some ditching along Track 5. While hard work, it is easiest done by hand, although I am not sure if they would agree with the easy part. But we greatly appreciate their efforts and hard work! Museum volunteers Mike Roqué, Jessica Stallone, Joe Werner and Randy Bogucki dig dirt for a new drainage ditch. The spoils of their work was loaded on to the two track carts and taken up the line where it was used as fill.

Joe (left) and Randy (right) nearly have both carts filled and ready to go for a trip up the line for dumping.

Although it was not needed on this day, the museum's BS-2 ("Ballast Sifter 2"), sits awaiting reloading on to the track carts and its next assignment. Since the R&GVRRM and the NYMT mainline has a fair amount of recovered ballast from old road beds which has some dirt in it, this device was engineered and built by museum volunteer, Randy Bogucki, to allow us to sift the dirty ballast and recover the good stone for re-use.

Finally the Rochester weather has sent us a more than reasonable share of rain this year so the grass is growing and growing and growing. Everyone pitches in! Rochester Chapter President Jeremy Tuke addresses some of the lawn cutting with one of the museums string trimmer/mowers.

New batteries hooked up and ready to go

While over 50 members and guests enjoyed the June Rochester Chapter NRHS general membership meeting at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum, our Master Electrician Jim Johnson hooked up the new batteries on Eastman Kodak Company 80-tonner #6. Here are two images of Jim at work and many thanks for a job well done.

R&GVRR Museum Master Electrician, Jim Johnson, hooks up the new batteries on EK#6. The locomotive has a 64-volt electrical system requiring eight 8-volt batteries hooked together in series to create the necessary power.

Another view of Jim hard at work making sure all the connection are properly made.

A busy summer day at the museum

This Saturday proved to be a very busy day at the museum. A variety of projects were underway. First, our Rochester, Lockport & Buffalo interurban waiting room took a trip from its resting place for several years in our Industry yard to our parking lot where it will be receiving a new roof. When we acquired this small building, one of our members, George Knab, built a custom steel frame for it and mounted the building on the frame. With a two-wheeled axle added to one end, the building basically has its own built in trailer.

The RL&B waiting room enters the parking lot of the R&GV Railroad Museum with our Trojan loader providing the motive power.

A better look at the building and the axle end of the trailer.

The RL&B is positioned next to our NYC crossing shanty which is also getting attention. The crossing shanty has already received new structural skirting, new primer and a new roof. Eventually we hope to place these buildings in proper locations along our demonstration railroad.

Next, a few of our Young Railfans were out helping us on this day. The project at hand was the prep and painting of one of our bumpers which we recently reinstalled in our Industry yard. At the same time, one of our track car trailers was also getting some new paint. Under the supervision of Dale Hartnett, our Young Railfans work to prep our newly installed track bumper on Track #3 in the Industry yard.

While two of our other Young Railfans headed off to other projects, one of them stayed behind to paint the bumper. He did a really great job of painting it!

Dale Hartnett paints one of our passenger trailer cars.

Finally some of our other railroad equipment was also getting some attention. Our Fairmont tie extractor was getting some repairs while the battery box on Eastman Kodak Company #6 was outfitted with new wood and its new batteries. Norm Shaddick tends to our Fairmont tie extractor which was also having some hydraulic valve work done.

Success! New paint, new wood, and new batteries leave just the hook up of the batteries by our electrical department, which they may have accomplished Saturday afternoon. What a difference.

Memorial Day work around the museum

Memorial Day weekend still brought a pretty good crowd of volunteers to the museum and finally a Saturday without rain and with sunshine. Recently, a new set of eight, 8-volt batteries were purchased through the generous donations of our members for one of our two 80-tonners, ex-Eastman Kodak Company #6. Of course when dealing with something that does not get changed very often, usually the job turns out to be harder than it sounds. First, there are 8 large batteries with all of their connections to deal with. Then there is the box under the locomotive where the batteries sit. Since it has been many years since the batteries were out of EK6, the battery box was in need of a good cleaning and repaint as some spots had grown a pretty good coat of rust. Some of that work was undertaken today is shown in the pics below.

We are also planning on moving our Rochester, Lockport & Buffalo Railway interurban waiting room out of the Industry yard in the coming weeks. We are going to be relocating it to our parking lot where it will eventually receive a new roof. To facilitate this, the RG&E 1941 45-tonner and MDT 14053 ice reefer had to be moved. 1941 was able to move the reefer car out of the way. Pics of it before and after the move are shown here.

Finally, a pic of the installation in progress of the trolley substation at the New York Museum of Transportation is shown below. The AC to DC rectifier and some of the other electrical installation is shown.

The battery box of EK#6 is shown before final clean-up (wire wheeling) and priming.

The battery box with the first coat of primer applied. Eventually, the box will hold 8 batteries used to start the locomotives.

This gives a little better look at the location of the box. EK#6 is dedicated to the former manager of the R&GV Railroad Museum, Rand Warner.

RG&E 1941 prior to the move north. Seen in the picture to the right is the RL&B waiting room that will be moved out of the yard. The building was secured to a steel frame many years back which can act like a trailer which makes moving this small building very easy.

Another view of 1941 after the move. The track in the foreground is the main track that leads to the NYMT.

In late 2003, a joint project between the R&GVRRM and the NYMT was started to install a substation in the NYMT to allow the museums to be able to turn 480 volt A/C 3-phase power into the 600 volts DC needed to power our trolleys. The work included the building of a special substation room inside the NYMT and is now seeing the electrical installation including the AC to DC rectifier shown here (with the Danger High Voltage sign on it). More work needs to be done, but we hope some trolley operations may take place some time later this year.

Trackwork time at R&GVRRM

With the better weather finally here (although we wish it would stop raining!), it was time to undertake some trackwork in the Industry yard including tie replacement and the re-installation of the bumper on the end of track #3 in the yard. And while that was going on, a little restoration was also taking place on the cab of R&GE 1941. The control stand was getting some cosmetic attention. Sadly, I had to head home at 1PM and missed the spring startup of Fairbanks-Morse USA 1843 which roared backed to life for another operating season at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum so there are no pics of that.

Rochester Chapter NRHS President, Jeremy Tuke, takes a cut at preparing a new rail needed for the installation of the bumper on track #3 in the Industry yard.

Almost through...

At the other end of track #3, several ties were being replaced. Here four of the museum volunteers insert a new tie.

Since a fair amount of the ballast around the museum was recovered from old railroad right-of-ways, it includes a fair amount of dirt and stone. To be able to recover the stone to be re-used while removing the dirt, this ballast screener was put together by one of our volunteers. The dirt goes through and the ballast heads into the bucket!

The two new ties are in place and ballast is being tamped into place.

Some new paint, a rebuilt cab heater and brake system, and a new seat waiting to be uncovered are the start of the restoration of the cab of the museum's 45-tonner,
Rochester Gas & Electric #1941.

Spring is here, and work picks up at R&GVRRM

Spring has finally arrived, and it is time for all of us at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum to come back outside. It is also time for this webmaster to get the cameras back out and get back to more regular News updates! With the ground dry, it was time to do some work on our access road to our Restoration Building. So out came the Cat D7, Cat road grader and road roller to work on the road. Meanwhile, work was still going on in other parts of the museum including more work on our Plymouth Model BL gas-mechanical locomotive. Please see below for some pictures of both...

The Cat D7E digs into the road to remove a hump.

The D7E makes easy work of roughing in the new grade.

Where the hump is removed, the dirt is used to fill in a low spot up a little further up on the road.

Next, the museum's Cat grader came out to finish grade the road and pull down some of the dirt pushed off to the side by the dozer.

Museum Construction Superintendent, Joe Scanlon, cuts a ditch in the side of the road to handle drainage with the grader.

The final step in the process is to bring in the Museum's road roller. Here it is working on the fill area south of the Restoration Building before working on the road. Winter set in before this area could be rolled so it was time to get it ready for more dirt to come down soon.

It was time to check the condition of the roller bearings on the drivewheel on the Plymouth Model BL. This drivewheel runs against the perpendicular flywheel which is connected to the engine. By sliding the drivewheel across the flywheel, it is possible to tradeoff engine speed for torque and also allows for the engine to change direction.

Many years of wear were found on this bronze thrust plate. A deep circle had been work into it from the shaft probably from MANY years of operation. The thrust plate was originally a flat piece of stock.

Year End Party a Success

With temperatures never getting over five degrees Fahrenheit, it made us appreciate the 65 degrees the previous Saturday! Cold temperatures couldn't put a damper on the Year End Party at the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum. And yes, the debate again raged whether this was a Year End or Year Beginning Party. No matter... With warm cars and a warm depot, plus a lot good food and good cheer, a good time was had by the over forty people who attended the party. The annual event is a "Thank You" to our volunteers and members and a chance to enjoy our little museum railroad.

Museum volunteer, Dale Hartnett, chips ice off of the rail head. With the recent snow fall and very low temps, ice had formed on the rail head. Most of it was removed to improve adhesion for the first northbound trip of R&GVRR 1654 from the Industry yard.

Here we find 1654 retrieving the Erie C254 off of siding #6 for the day's runs. This track will eventually be the main lead to the museum's Restoration Building seen just to the right of the engine.

RGVRR 1654 North... With temps in the single digits and wind chills below zero, the perfect place to be was in the warm cupola of Erie caboose #C254 as RGVRR 1654 heads north along the museum's demonstration railroad.

60 degrees in January?!

Even in the grips of winter weather, we try to stay active and keep moving forward. With temperatures breaking the 60 degree mark for the first Saturday in Rochester in JANUARY, the volunteers of the Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum took advantage of the warm weather to get ahead on a few projects thought to be dormant until the Spring.

Museum volunteer, Randy Bogucki, works on a little ditching work in the wet, but unfrozen ground. The dirt was loaded on to the push cart and taken up along the museum's demonstration railroad where it was used for fill.

The Construction Department took the opportunity to try to push start the museum's Caterpillar DW-15 pan. With the museum's Trojan loader providing the motive power, the pan was pushed up the west yard. The crew was successful in getting the old Cat to start for a few minutes, but more work will be needed to getting the pan running right. It was great to have a shot at it in January, however.

The R&GV Railroad Museum owns several Whiting Trackmobiles. These unique vehicles with an apparent personality conflict can run over the road on rubber tires to get into position and then lower the themselves on to the rail to become a small locomotive. On the opposite side of the #2 is the coupler which has a hydraulic ram that lifts on the coupler of the car its is coupled to. This transfers weight on to the Trackmobile so that it gets improved traction. #2 is fully serviceable.